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The University of Colorado at Boulder is making solid progress on implementing the action plan for oversight and reorganization of its intercollegiate athletics program, according to CU-Boulder Provost Phil DiStefano. DiStefano presented a report on the most recent implementation steps during a study session by the CU Board of Regents Wednesday, Aug. 11, at the Fitzsimons campus in Denver.

A University of Colorado at Boulder science policy center has received a $2.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the process of decision making in uncertain situations as part of the U.S. Climate Change Research Initiative. Awarded to the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research, the five-year grant will focus on improving the connection between the nation's multi-billion dollar investment in climate research and those making climate-related decisions, said Director Roger Pielke Jr.

Jim Fadenrecht, chief of the CU-Boulder Police department since 1991 and a 30-year veteran of the department, has announced his retirement effective Jan. 31, 2005. In a memo to Paul Tabolt, vice chancellor for administration, Fadenrecht said, "My employment at CU has now spanned over three decades and I've decided it's time to transition into another phase of life." Fadenrecht praised the public safety staff, which he called "a committed and talented work force" and said the announcement was made "with mixed emotions."

Editors: Contents embargoed until July 29 at 2 p.m. EDT. A new study of California's southern Sierra Nevada range by a University of Colorado at Boulder research team has located a massive body of rock that sank into Earth's mantle some 3.5 million years ago, allowing the mountains to pop up. Undertaken with a high-tech suite of instruments designed to probe the geology to roughly 125 miles below Earth's surface, the study illustrated the mountain building process in the southern Sierras with unprecedented detail.